Hydro orient
 

Hello fellas.. Is it really necessary to hydro small poppers, pencils, Polaris, bottles and such??
Thanks Rene

Nope
It is worth it for metal lips.
For darters and bottle swimmers grain direction adavantages outweigh hydro-orientation in my opinion even if that approach results in an occasional dud (which is no big deal as long as you're not selling plugs).

sorry, what's hydro?

Thanks Numbskull.. I always hydro -orient for my swimmers, but just find it a pain. I'm doing a large batch someone and I hope I don't have any duds..
Thanks Rene
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Float the undrilled plug blank to determine which is the heavy side. Mark the upside and drill the opposite for your belly hook. Help keep the plug from rolling if not orientated properly.

N. Shore Water balancing the body for better action. Unless you already new that and was just busting on me... Lol
Rene
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Renee, I actually had no idea. I am beyond very new at all this stuff, so a lot of the terminology and tricks are new to me. Picking up as much as I can, but it's a pretty big hill to climb. But thanks, this is just another tool for my arsenal!

is the blank supposed to be sealed or primed at this point, or just bare wood?

I do it bare and fast one at a time. Let it roll til stops and just dot the top with a Sharpie. That marks the top of the plug. Take it out and absorb the access water with plenty of Bounty lol... I have heard of some using sealer but never tried.
Rene
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I totally agree that hydro testing the plug makes sense, as every piece of wood has differences of density, making one side always wanting to be on top. Makes more sense with plugs that are not belly weighted. But you have the weight of hardware and hook(s) to help offset that. Someone just took their thinking a little bit further to how they could perfect a plug's performance. I don't do it, as it is another step that I do not think would improve the crap I make. And more importantly, at least in my building, I utilize the square ends to center my eyes and belly holes. I could definitely use a jig or a better way of cutting the ends off, though

I think we need to do a fall thread on jigs we use in the plug making process. Joe's jig for cutting the darter slope and mouth is the catsazz! Allows me to make repetitive cuts and more importantly, keeps my fingers a safe distance from the bandsaw blade. Also liked MikeCC's tablesaw shuttle to cut the plane for a canal special, but haven't built that yet.

roll before cut, out of water to find heavy side. face down, all set. no need to get it wet
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My house is 113 years old, and just like me, all the floors are just a little
off...lol